July 28, 2013

July 28, 2013
This is going to be a travel day so we have the morning free. We get up late and for exercise walk to a nearby onion-domed church down the street. Since it is Sunday a service is underway. I found it fascinating to watch. I knew historically that the Catholic and Orthodox Churches were originally branches of the same faith. Looking at the interior of the church and watching the Mass, you wouldn't immediately think so. The church itself is covered totally with pictures of saints and the altar is hidden behind a golden fence (called an Iconostasis). There are no pews. During the Mass, the people (women with heads covered) stand and seem to come and go. There is a lot of chanting style singing, with lots of bowing and signs of the cross. The priest can usually be seen through an opened door in the Iconostasis. The longer I watch the more the Mass looks like the ones I remember growing up. Head coverings, no guitars, and a priest facing an altar in the rear. I just wish I knew Russian to be sure.

Back outside we notice lots of action going on along the river. There are several Navy ships with sailors at attention.  It looks like the Russians are throwing a party for our departure.  I like the Russian sailor uniforms; they are a throwback to yesteryear.

At noon, we rejoin our tour for a transfer to one of the local train stations.  Our destination is Moscow and we are on one of their new high speed trains.  While not as fast as the French bullet, it goes a respectable 120 mph.  Despite the speed it still takes four and a half hours to arrive.  The Russian countryside was a surprise.  It was virtually all forested.  Farm fields were few and far between.  The towns also seemed to be mostly small run-down shacks.  I wonder what people in the country do to survive?

After arrival in Moscow and checking into the hotel, we hop on the nearest Metro line for the short ride closer to the town center.  We pop in a few restaurants to find dinner but so far everything is in Russian with no pictures.  We get off and walk down one of the main drags in Moscow.  There we suddenly find an American diner and I order a burger and fries.  Delicious!  Afterwards we continue on to Red Square.  It looks just like the movies.  We hang around for a couple hours till it gets dark and then head back.  We don't hit the bed until midnight.